 Where would we be without the iconic roasted chicken? Photo courtesy McCormick.
September 2011
Last Updated December 2024
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Chicken History & Chicken Glossary
Page 1: The History Of Chicken
Chicken History
In 2003 there were some 24 billion chickens* on Earth, used for eggs and meat.
Chickens are domesticated birds descended from the Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus), possibly crossed with the Grey Junglefowl. Both are members of the pheasant family. Our domesticated chicken is the subspecies Gallus gallus domesticus.
Wild chickens were domesticated in Southeast Asia, possibly as far back as 7000 to 10,000 years ago. Certainly, the Chinese had domesticated them by about 5000 B.C.E., as well did East Asia neighbors such as Thailand and Vietnam. Evidence shows domestication in India around 3000 B.C.E.
The tasty little animals were carried from West Asia to Africa. Chicken bones have been found in Egyptian tombs (from the slaughtered chickens that fed the deceased on the journey to the other side).
They were carried throughout the prehistoric Austronesian maritime migrations and may have been introduced to South America by Polynesian seafarers.
However, for much of their history, chickens were not bred for food. Rather, the primary purpose of their domestication was for cockfighting and religious ceremonies. Cockfighting was a popular cultural practice in many ancient societies, and chickens held significant ritual and symbolic importance in various cultures.
And yes, the feathers of the deceased were prized for jewelry, clothing trimming, and more.
Chickens arrived in Persia around 2000 B.C.E. and began to be carried elsewhere through trade routes.
To Persians, the birds were associated with their sun god Mithra, and thus had religious significance and were luxury items.
The Egyptians were among the first to develop advanced methods of artificial egg incubation, using sophisticated heated chambers that allowed for large-scale poultry breeding.
Chickens were still luxury items when they reached Greece, around the 8th century. The rich reared them for cockfighting and religious services.
When they reached Rome, the chicken guts were used in fortune-telling (frankly, we prefer the Chinese custom of reading tea leaves). Before big decisions, priests would slaughter chickens to “read” the entrails.
The Greeks and Romans further spread chickens throughout Europe.
But what about eating the birds? Humans likely domesticated chickens for their eggs before 7500 B.C.E. However, archaeological evidence suggests that chicken meat was not eaten in significant amounts until about 2,200 years ago.
The Egyptians were among the first to develop advanced methods of artificial egg incubation, using sophisticated heated chambers that allowed for large-scale poultry breeding. The Greeks and Romans further spread chickens throughout Europe, appreciating them both for practical purposes and as sacred animals.
Archaeological evidence shows the earliest evidence of large-scale chicken eating in Europe during the first century B.C.E. and 100 years or more earlier than that in Israel [source].
An explosion of chicken farming took place until the Middle Ages at monasteries and feudal farms. During the Lenten season, the eggs could be consumed when other animal foods were proscribed.
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Eggs and meat are excellent sources of protein, and chickens are the ultimate low-maintenance protein. Almost anyone could afford to purchase two chickens to breed. They ran around the yard and ate bugs and food scraps. At night, they didn’t mind tight confinement in a cage.
And in the millennia before refrigeration,† a chicken was a single-meal proposition. Unlike slaughtering a pig or a goat, which provided many potential meals, there was no meat to go bad.
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The wild, bright-plumed Red Junglefowl is the ancestor of today’s domestic chicken. This stamp honors the domestication of chickens, which took place independently in India and China. |
The most significant transformation in chicken breeding came with industrial agriculture, beginning in the 1920s. Through selective breeding, breeding techniques, and advances in nutrition, chickens were bred to grow faster, produce more meat, and lay more eggs.
Today, chickens are the most numerous bird species on Earth, with an estimated global population of over 25 billion. They are a crucial source of protein worldwide.
Trivia: Recent genetic research has revealed that chickens and all birds are closely related to dinosaurs, specifically theropod dinosaurs. They are the living descendants of everyone’s favorite extinct creatures.
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*Source: Firefly Encyclopedia of Birds, Ed. Perrins, Christopher. Buffalo, N.Y.: Firefly Books, Ltd., 2003.
†While home refrigerators debuted around 1911, most American homes did not have refrigerators until after World War II.
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This is Page 1 of a seven-page glossary of chicken parts and terms. Click on the black links below to visit other pages. See our more than 100 food glossaries for details on all of your favorite foods.
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Chicken Cuts Chart
How many parts of the chicken can you name? Probably most of them!
Chart courtesy Osovo.com.
Continue To Page 2: Chicken Definitions With A & B
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